upon the captain-general, and, after being kept two hours in the
street, had an audience, but it was to be told that I was an
imposter, the improbability of Captain Flinders coming in so small
a vessel being thought so great as to discredit my passport and
commission. Finally, Mr. Atkin, formerly master of the
_Investigator_, and me were brought ashore as prisoners at 2
o'clock in the morning, all my books and papers were taken away,
and a sentinel with fix't bayonet was placed in the room where we
lodged. After undergoing an examination next day, I thought
circumstances were going in my favour, but in three days an order
was issued to put my seamen on board the prison-ship, the vessel's
stores in the arsenal, and the schooner to be laid up. As for Mr.
Atkin and me, we continued in the house of our confinement, but
with this difference, that the sentinal was placed without side of
our room, and I was permitted to have my servant, and afterwards
obtained my printed books and some unfinished charts upon which to
employ myself.

[Illustration: GOVERNMENT HOUSE, PORT JACKSON. From a drawing by
W. Westall, A.R.A., in the possession of the Royal Colonial
Institute. Photographed by permission of the Council. _To face p.
198._]

"I expostulated with General de Caen upon this uncommon and very
harsh treatment, but could obtain no satisfaction or public
information than that I had deviated from the voyage for which the
passport had been granted by touching at the Isle of France, and
that my uncommon voyage from Port Jackson to this place was more
calculated for the particular interests of Great Britain than for
those of my voyage of discovery. In fine, I was considered and